Room 3B
by Sexy-Cowgirl1995
Summary: Mother always said "Curiosity killed the cat..." What are the secrets of room 3B? Why do Konoha, Sound, and Akatsuki all want Sakura Haruno dead? UNDETERMINED COUPLES & RATING MAY CHANGE
1. Chapter 1

If I owned Naruto, Jaraiya would still be alive! T_T RIP Jaraiya

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><p>It started with a clean up job. I was to clean, organize, and sort one of the many small rooms of the Hokages tower. Not exactly the kind of work a medical student should be doing if you ask me, but I agreed to it none-the-less. As I opened the door of said room, I was overcome with the retched stench that can only come from extreme age. Sighing, I continued on with my assignment diligently. I had gotten through about half of the room when I reached a drawer of one of the many desks that were placed awkwardly throughout the room. When I attempted to open it, though, it wouldn't budge. 'How odd' I thought 'Theres not a lock, nor any kind of obvious jam, and yet it wont budge; A jutsu, maybe?' I made the release symbol with my hands and lightly touched the drawer. Once again I pulled at the handle and the drawer came forward with no resistance. Inside there were two items: A mission scroll and some kind of amulet. I reached forward and picked up the amulet: It appeared to be clear, and was as light as a feather. I put it into one of my pockets, and reached back in and lifted out the scroll. Pulling out a storage scroll, I sealed the amulet and slipped the storage scroll back into its container. I carefully opened up the scroll and read the contents:<p>

This is the official report of the mission completed by: Uchiha, Itachi.

Mission: Assassinate the entirety of the Uchiha clan, and then leave Konoha under the status of: Missing Nin.

Report: Everyone minus the younger brother of Itachi (Uchiha, Sasuke) was successfully eliminated, and Itachi has reportedly left the country of fire. The brother is a young child with little to no knowledge of the clans activities, and thus shall not be executed.

Mission Overseer: The 3rd Hokage

My stomach turned over, and all the contents of said organ pushed their way up my throat, but the very large lump that was developing there didn't allow them to pass upwards to my mouth. I couldn't believe this. How many people knew about this? Suddenly everyone I knew, or at least thought I knew, seemed like a stranger, a suspect. I pulled out my second sealing scroll and threw it to a random corner of the room. In its place in my pack I put the mission scroll, and shut the drawer. Taking a moment to compose myself, I returned to my assignment and formulated a plan of action.

I finished cleaning the room quickly, shut the door to the dark, tiny room and made a beeline for the front door. I did my best to keep myself from running out the double door, but I couldn't stop my mind from scrutinizing everyone who passed me. Were they in on it? Who knew about it? Did they know that I knew? I was very glad when I passed out the double doors and into the calming business of the main streets. I made my way to the civilian district and climbed in through my bedroom window, not in the mood to deal with my parents. After I had locked my door and shut my blinds, I pulled out the scrolls and unsealed the amulet. I fingered the amulet, feeling the smooth surface of the stone. It was a diamond shaped stone, with a black threading wrapped around the top spire that connected it to the necktie. I was wary of it, fearful that what it might hold may be worse than that of the scroll. A lump grew in my throat just thinking about it.

'Don't be scared…' A faint of a voice whispered to me. I looked around me, and checked for nearby chakras, but there was nothing.

'Strange' I thought. But for some strange reason, the voice gave me a feeling of peace. I slipped the amulet around my neck and tucked it safely underneath my shirt. I looked at the scroll. If Sasuke knew about this, there was no telling what he might do. There was also no telling what Konoha might do if they knew that _I_ knew, and it was only a matter of time before they knew, if they didn't know already…

Konoha was no longer safe for me.

I pulled out my ninja pack and packed only a few essentials. Taking a portion of the money I had accumulated, I jumped back through my window and went to a nearby ninja shop. It would be essential that they didn't recognize me, and my red dress, though pretty, was far too obvious. I went back to the attire and picked out a pair of black sandals and black, baggy pants. The weather got hot in some countries, so I chose a black tube top with a mesh long-sleeve and grabbed a long-sleeved solid shirt for the colder months. My hair was also extremely noticeable, so I grabbed a mask that covered both your head and the lower end of your face. Out of habit, I went to the jutsu scrolls. I would be fending for myself from now on, so I had to be able to defend myself. Even though I really wanted to try and learn some new ninjutsus, Taijutsu would be the best choice, so I grabbed four taijutsu scrolls and went up towards the cashier. I passed through the weapon section, and out of curiosity, stopped and examined the array of shiny, deadly objects. What caught my attention most was that of a whip, supposedly six feet long and able to current your chakra through for massive damage. I grabbed the whip and turned to leave when I spotted it: a sword. Simple, but mesmerizingly beautiful in its sleek frame and solid black sheath and hilt. I couldn't stop myself from grabbing the sword and continued on my way towards the front. I put my array of items on the counter and the older man behind the register eyed my choices through his thick bi-focal lenses. He shifted his eyes from my items to me and smiled through his gruffly white moustache.

"You're lucky. We're having a special on that sword today." He then reached down and lifted up a wakizashi* "when you buy that sword, you get this one for free." He wrung me up and after paying the man I took the swords and the rest of my things back to my room. I put my purchases into my bag and slid it onto my back. Taking one last look at my home, I jumped back through the window and headed towards the gate to the village.

The sun was just about to set when I reached the gate, and the guards were more than happy to let me by without any kind of documentation needed, and as I looked at their smiling faces, I felt a great sadness sweep over me. I was never going to see them, or anyone for that matter, again, and if I did, we would be enemies. The thought almost made me shed a few tears, but I had promised myself months ago, after Sasuke left the village, that I would no longer cry, and I was not going to break a promise. So I put one foot in front of the other and left the village that up until now had been my home.

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><p>Tsunade hated her meetings with the elders. They always had a stick up their asses about everything, and were complete opposites of herself in every way, from personality to appearance. So she just stayed quiet and sipped her tea.<p>

"By the way, Tsunade, where is that student girl of yours?" The male elder* asked.

"Oh, I was busy all day today, so I sent her to go clean one of the back rooms" She replied nonchalantly. Both of the elders visibly tensed up, and it was a very tense moment before either one of them spoke.

"Which room did you assign her, exactly?" The female elder questioned through clenched teeth. Tsunade looked at them both with a suspicious eye.

"Um… 3B I believe, on the third floor." The elders both took in shallow breaths, before erupting into a terrified frenzy. They both stood up, knocking over their glasses of tea, and immediately called an ANBU member to them and gave them the assignment to find Sakura Haruno. They began to speak amongst themselves, and at the insult of being both interrogated and ignored caused the destruction of the table she was sitting at. The elders both turned to her in shock, mouths agape.

"Tell me what's going on!" She demanded. The elders shared a glance and then sat down once again at the now broken table. Taking a deep sigh, they told her the secrets behind the events that transpired so many years ago.

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><p>In a deep cavern somewhere underneath the soil of the country of sound, a silver-haired man walked quickly to the chamber of his master, Orochimaru. He opened up the door and bowed before his superior.<p>

"Orochimaru-sama, we have received some interesting news from our intelligence in Konoha."

"Go on." The snake sennin replied.

"Well, you see sir, it has to do with Sasuke-sama…"

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><p>I was about fifteen miles out of Konoha before I stopped for a break at a waterfall. Stripping off my now tattered and muddied dress and underclothes, I bathed under the soothing water of the falls. Even though I had stripped myself of my clothes, I still kept the amulet on, and I fingered its surface as I washed. After bathing, I put on the fresh clothes I had purchased that day, along with a pair of gloves and a belt that I had packed. I strapped the longer sword to my back and the shorter sword I belted horizontally onto my belt and attached the whip to my right leg. I strapped down the rest of my holsters and did a quick kagebushin. Nine copies of me appeared in the area around me. I tore up the rest of my dress and handed each a piece of it with the instructions to go in different directions towards each of the different countries about tem miles, then stick the tatter of cloth onto a branch or something, and disappear. I grabbed my bag and headed southwest, towards the land of wind.<p>

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><p>A wakizashi is like a katana, but shorter<p>

I have no clue what the elders names are, so if anyone knows, please tell me

Please leave a comment! I love feedback, and thanks for reading! ^_^


	2. Chapter 2

(Enter disclaimer here)

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><p>It was almost morning by the time I reached the land of wind. I pulled my mask to try and cover as much as my face as I could.<p>

'They don't call this the land of wind for nothing' I thought. I continued to fight against the wind until well into the morning, when I was graced with the sight of a rather large cave of some sorts, and I, luckily, was able to escape the horrid winds within it. My body craved both food and rest, but before doing either, I made sure to set up a few traps that would let me know if anyone were to enter. Looking around, I spotted a rather large bolder off to the left corner near the side of the cavern. I placed my bag there where I was sure no one was to see it, and allowed myself to indulge in one of the apples that I had brought along, and afterwards allowed my eyes to slip shut for a brief nap.

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><p>Tsunade was shocked, angry, sad, but most of all worried. What was going to happen to Sakura? She couldn't go easy on her just because she was her student, that would cause an outrage from the elders, and she didn't want them on her ass any more than they already were, but she couldn't kill her! The elders had demanded for her to do it, for 'the sake of the village' but this wasn't just anyone, this was her student! Over the months they had spent together, Tsunade had come to see Sakura as a daughter, and she cared about her. So she shed more than a few tears after sending the bird out. She just had to pray that the teams she had sent out to do it would be able to convince her to come back, otherwise… She couldn't think about it, even, without risking letting loose the waterfall of tears that threatened to come forward from her eyes.<p>

"Shizune!" She needed her sake…

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><p>While Tsunade wrestled with her conflicting emotions, Orochimaru expressed only one emotion: Fear. If she came here, told Sasuke about what she had seen, he wouldn't have any more reason to stay here, and his plans would be ruined! That couldn't happen, so Orochimaru planned to deal with it himself. He left deep in the night, with only Kabuto as company. Too bad that they were too preoccupied to realize they were being watched by a pair of crimson red eyes…<p>

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><p>It was just breaking dawn when Shikamaru arrived at the gate to the village. Slowly but surely, his team began to assemble. Eventually Neji, Lee, Ino, and Kakashi had all assembled, and they began in the direction Sakura had reportedly gone. He knew that none of the others, even Kakashi, knew exactly what their mission was, only that a leaf shinobi had gone rouge and they were to retrieve them, and he only knew the missions objective, without any kind of details given. There was more to this, but exactly what that was he wouldn't know until they found Sakura and he got a chance to question her. But for now he had to focus on finding her, interrogation could wait.<p>

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><p>Immediately I knew I was dreaming. There was no place on earth that looked like this. Just… white, everywhere! No people, no plants, no anything! As far as the eye could see there was just whiteness. Indeed, it was a strange place, but once again, this was a dream. Suddenly my chest began to burn, and I could only think of one reason why. The Amulet. I ripped it out from under my shirt. Its translucent appearance now glowed with a bright white light, and radiated an intense heat. The light grew brighter until I had to look away and cover my eyes with my hand. Suddenly the light receded and the heat died down. I looked back and in front of me was probably the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her skin was the color of ivory, flawless and unscarred. Her eyes, a deep green, looked at me kindly. Her hair was long, tied up in a bun with a tail that flowed down to her waist. She wore a red kimono decorated with pink flowers and sakura trees. Her ogi was the same green as her eyes, and held the kimono together loosely. She wore black ninja sandals that went up to her knees and fishnet leggings. She smiled at me.<p>

"Hello, Sakura." She said kindly. I couldn't say anything, just blubber like a fish caught in a fisherman's net. I fell down too my knees and sat there, amazed at the breathtaking beauty and grace of the unearthly woman. She laughed with a voice like honey and bent down to be at my level. "Do you know who I am?" She asked, as if speaking to a small child. I shook my head in response. She reached out and pushed back a stray hair, stroking my face with her soft fingers. "Of course you don't, you were so young when they took you, you couldn't possibly remember." Sadness came over her face and suddenly she looked all the more human. Finally I regained the ability to speak and asked the first thing that came to my mind.

"You-You're beautiful!" Unable to call the words back to me, my face turned a bright shade of red from embarrassment. Tears came to the woman's eyes from laughing so hard, and the weight of her body on her feet caused her to tip backwards, back onto her rear-end. She gripped her stomach with one hand and waved at the other dismissively.

"S-sorry" She said as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes "where we're from, there are many women who are much more beautiful than me, and its been a while since I've been to the mainland, so I'm not used to hearing that." She smiled at me. This statement confused me greatly.

"From where we're from?" I questioned.

"Yes, I mean, you are my daughter, after all"

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><p>Please comment! ^_^ Thank you for reading!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Don't own naruto

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><p>"Yes, I mean, you are my daughter, after all" She said as if it were an obvious thing. My breathing stopped. My skin went ice cold, my hair stood on end. The only thing I could hear was the rational side of my mind screaming at me 'lies, lies, lies!' And for the second time my mouth refused to work and I was once again reduced to a blubbering fish. I opened and closed my mouth, but the words just wouldn't come to me. "I know you don't believe me, but its true." Only one word could come to mind.<p>

"How…"

"How is it possible that I'm your mother, when you already have one at home? Well, think about it: have you ever wondered why you probably don't look like either of your parents?" I had noticed. Both of my parents seemed pretty average, neither one looked, sounded, or acted anything like me, but I just assumed that I had some kind of genetic mutation or something.

"I guess… I never really thought about it…"

"Well, will you allow me to tell you a story?" I had always enjoyed stories, and I was to learn more about this strange woman. I nodded my head, and the woman clapped her hands together in joy and sat down Indian style in front of me, wide grin plastered onto her face. "Okay, well it all started many years ago, long before you were born. Before the time of villages and kages, land was instead divided amongst clans. We, the Haruno clan, owned a small part of the land on the costal region of what is now the land of fire. We were known for both our unique appearance and the very powerful techniques we created and perfected. Because of our beauty, we became the wives and husbands of clan leaders, diplomats, and powerful lords alike. Over time, we gained the trust and admiration of many clans, our closest allies being the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans. The bonds between our clans were so prevailing; it was compared to that of the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans. In fact, the bonding rituals done by the Nara, Yamanaka, and akimichi clans were largely based off of our own practices. One of the most well known practices is that of the birth pact. You see, it was often the case that children of the Uchiha, Uzumaki, and Haruno clans were born roughly around the same time, and when that occurred, it was tradition that they were to live, train, and fight as a trio all throughout their youth, until they each became adults in the eyes of their respective clans. This was a very effective method that many people and clans attempted to copy, and after the great villages were established, it was decided that that was the method they were going to use in teaching all of their shinobi, thus the birth of the three-man squads system."

I couldn't fathom it; what my, sasukes, and narutos clans established created the three man cell system that eventually brought the three of us together. That being said, it still didn't answer any of my questions, it only brought up new ones. As if reading my mind, the woman responded to my dissatisfaction.

"Just wait, I haven't even gotten to the story yet!" She giggled. "Ok, so after the leaf village was established, and the Senjus beat out the Uchihas as head of the village, the leaders of the village, in an attempt to keep the Uchihas and their allies under their thumb, put an end to the birth pact. Instead, they extended a hand of welcome to both the Haruno and Uzumaki clans. The Uzumaki, forever a very social and slightly naïve clan, happily accepted the offer, leading to the marriage of the First Hokage to his wife, Uzumaki Mito. On the other hand, the then leader of the Haruno clan saw corruption in some of the village leaders, and turned their offers away. Now some did go, sneaking off in the middle of the night, but most of the clansmen stayed. Fearing we would assist the Uchihas in uprising and attempt to take control of the village, they toppled over the first domino in a line filled with hatred, violence, and murder." Her mood changed drastically, and now she was gripping her kimono with white knuckles.

"They slaughtered us, our people…" Tears began running down her face "As many as they could find… they killed them all! Men…Women… Children, even! They were ruthless…" She stopped to try and compose herself, wiping away the tears with the sleeve of her dress. "Luckily, though, some of us were able to escape out onto the water during the middle of it. That was when…" Her bottom lip began to quiver, and tears began to fall harder than they had before. "That was when… they took you." She tried to push the tears back, reducing them to occasional sniffles. "My father, who was at that time the clans leader, made arrangements for us to escape in the heat of it all. We had made it all the way to the beach before we realized that we were being chased. You were two at the time and following behind me. You had tripped about fifty feet from the boat, and by the time I had realized you weren't behind me, it was too late. We were already at the boat, and when I turned around, a leaf shinobi had already grabbed you…" She finally broke down, resting her face in her hands, and sobbed wildly. I panicked, and just did the first thing that came to mind: I wrapped my arms around her slumped body and embraced her. She let out a small gasp before returning the embrace with a vice grip hold around me. We stayed like that until the river of tears had reduced to sniffling. "I *** sniffle* **tried… to save you * sniffle * but the others… *sniffle * they forced me into the boat." She leaned away slightly and looked at me, cupping my face in her hands. "for the longest time I thought you were dead, but when you touched the amulet, I felt it. She put one hand over her heart, and with the other she lifted up the amulet. "This amulet, I had given it to you when you were born. Our clan had developed hundreds of special techniques, including one called Tamashī baindo, where you implant a little of your chakra into an item and you give it too a person you love, and it lets you know where that person is at all times and communicate with them. After the attack, I could no longer feel where you were at, and I feared the worst. They must have taken it from you, and put it somewhere with a barrier surrounding it, and given you too your adoptive parents. But no matter…" She kissed my forehead, and looked at me with a sad expression " We don't have much time left. Now, my precious little girl, I need you too do something for me. I hate to ask you to do this, but there are some things that were taken from our family, three very powerful scrolls that have since been scattered. One was given to the village hidden in the sand, known as 'the scroll of the beasts'. Orochimaru took another one with him after deserting the leaf village, known as 'the scroll of the sages.' The last is still within the leaf, known as 'the scroll of the forbidden seal.' Please take those back and come too the beach of the land of fire. There I will have a boat ready to take you too the island that we're settled on." She wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace that I returned. I only had one unanswered question left.

"What's your name?"

"Mio Haruno…"

I woke up.

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><p>Haha srry for only giving Sakuras perspective this time, but I have things to do and I could only get this done in time ^_^ Now, I require review! I need at least five before I release the next chapter! :D muahahahaahaha!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Don't own anything but the story, peeps!

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><p>I woke up<p>

I spent a decent amount of time lying there, unmoving, just trying to decide whether what I had seen was real or not. Once again, my rational side argued that it was just a dream and I should just forget about it and move on, but a small part of my brain, most likely the part responsible for little kids running around like beasts, convinced that they were a shinobi and launching plastic throwing stars at any persons within view, screamed that what I had seen was, in fact, real. Finally I tried to sit up, and it was then that I realized something was lying on top of me. What initially appeared to be a fuzzy white ball was, upon closer inspection, a very small and soft cat. The very presence of the animal shocked me more than anything. There was not a town for miles, and Sakura noticed very few pets present in the town I had walked through the day before. As I laid there, watching the creatures body move slightly with the motion of its breathing, a warm feeling bubbled up within my chest, overwhelming any kind of rational argument from my conscious. I had always had a soft spot for anything cute and fuzzy, and said spot began to throb and pulse rather violently at the sight of this adorable creature. I scratched behinds its fuzzy, pointed ears. An ear twitched lightly, and the animal opened its eyes slightly upon being disturbed from its slumber, and let out a loud yawn as it stretched, sticking its rear into the air and pressing its clawed front legs forward, almost getting uncomfortably close to my neck. For a brief moment I got a clear view of the creatures long canine teeth that seemed to be ever so slightly longer than average.

"Hey kitty, who do you belong too?" I cooed to the small beast. As if it just realized my presence, the cat looked at me with surprise and cocked its head to the side in a particularly cute manner. It turned its head to its rear, as if searching for the being my comment was directed at. Finally, it looked back at me, a look of both confusion and amusement in its eyes.

"Are you referring to me?" The cat spoke in a rather feminine voice. Now, I had become accustomed to animals that could talk, as back in Kanoha, when team seven was still around, we often called upon Kakashis search dog Pakkun for searching missions, so there was no 'WAIT,CATS CAN TALK?' moment that I'm sure that Naruto would have no matter how many times he had met a talking animal, but it was certainly not something I was expecting, and caused my body to jump slightly and my eyes to enlarge a good bit.

"Well, I don't think there's another talking cat laying on top of me, is there?" She looked at me with a glint in its eye, before jumping to her feet, turned around again and doing a thorough scan of my person. She jumped again, doing a full 180 spin in the air, and plopped down once again onto my chest, a glint of humor in her eyes and a very large smirk on her face. I wasn't sure if cats were even capable of smirking, but this was obviously a very special cat, so I didn't put anything past it.

"Not that I can see, no." She said, a laugh very evident in her voice.

"Well then I pretty sure I'm talking to you, fuzzball" I said, matching the laugh in her voice with my own. Her smirk grew bigger, her teeth raising slightly, allowing for a slight peek of the jaw-full of razor sharp teeth just waiting for the occasion that a mouse, or some other unfortunate critter, come along and give them something to rip and tear until only a few meager shreds remain.

"As expected from the daughter of Mio Haruno" The cat said with a slight humored tone. This confirmed what I had been hoping. "Yes, that was real."

"Well if you know my mother…" Even though it sounded slightly strange to say that in reference to the beautiful woman in my dream, but at the same time it seemed warm and familiar, like a friend seen after a long period of absence. "Who are you?" I questioned. The cat used its front paw to scratch her left ear.

"Me? I'm Tora, your Shishi." She said, never taking her attention away from the bothersome ear.

"Shishi?"

"Yep" Tora said as she finished with her ear, and once again turned her attention to me and smiled. I smiled back; our eyes met, green on green, and Mother Nature allowed me to glimpse the beauty of one of her creation: the emerald green eyes a cat possesses that can capture both people and prey in a force that compels them stop and simply stare in awe, the sleek frame and powerful muscles of the animals body, and most notably the teeth that, while the previously mentioned mouse stares, awestruck at the beauty of deaths face, seize it by the neck and rips it tiny life away from it. Finally she broke the trance by speaking. "There's a lot of old-world mumbo jumbo and uninteresting history that goes along with it, but essentially, you are my master from now on" Her tail swished back and forth contentedly at her rear, as if this was something she told everyone when she meets them.

I blinked in bewilderment "O-ok…" I struggled out. "Well, where did you come from?" She chuckled lightly and put her right paw on my amulet. "I was sleeping for thirteen years inside that damn necklace, waiting for you to finally unlock the amulets powers." I still had so many questions, but chose to forsake them temporarily. She didn't seem to want to reveal much at the moment, but there would be many more opportunities for questioning later, if what she said about me being her master were true, we would be spending a lot of time together from now on.

I once again tried lifting myself to a sitting position, and this time Tora ran from my chest to the hard cavern floor at my feet. She walked around the rock, and I took the opportunity of solitude to relieve myself. When I was finished, I also walked around the rock to find Tora waiting. I opened my pack and motioned her to get into it; without hesitation, she hopped into the bag. I closed it up and carefully placed it onto my back. I walked through the cavern and into the relentless storm of wind and sand.

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><p>Shikamarus group traveled until well after the sun had disappeared. Led by Kakashis dog pakun, they tracked Sakuras scent all the way to the base of a waterfall. From there, the path divided into several different directions. He bit the inside of his lip, a nervous habit he had yet to break himself of. She was smart, he should have expected this kind of thing from her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ino look at him expectantly.<p>

"Well, Shikamaru? Where do we go from here?" She said in the demanding tone she always seemed to ooze when she was speaking to him.

"The path devides from here, I'm trying to decide which way they might have gone." He replie, careful about his wording so as to not let any of the smarter individuals catch on to who he might have been talking about. "Neji, which way to the closest village?"

"Way ahead of you, captain." He pointed in a direction far to the west. "12 Kilometers in that direction!" And in a flash, they were off again.

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><p>Tsunade wasn't stupid nor was she naïve to reality. She knew that it was possible that if Sakura had already figured out the amulet, which, taking into account Sakuras intellect and resourcefulness, wouldn't surprise her for a second, it would take a lot more than Shikamarus team to capture her. Taking this into account, Tsunade mad sure to employ some relieable 're-enforcements'…<p>

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><p>The entire situation came as a surprise to Jaraiya. He hadn't spent that much time around Sakura, but in the time he had spent with her, he never got the slightest hint that she would ever abandon the village she had spent her entire life in, nor did he ever since the kind of power that . He also felt a large amount of both sympathy and pity for Naruto. No matter how much he tried to hide it, Jaraiya knew that Sasukes defecting was hard on him. Now he had lost both of his teammates… Jaraiya, even though he wouldn't admit it in a million years, had come to see Naruto as a kind of Grandson of sorts, and couldn't endure telling him the truth. So he did what any Grandparent in his position would do, he half-lied. A shinobi had defected, and they were search and recovery, no name attached to it. Even without a name, he could see that behind the Childs' smiling azure eyes and goofy grin, the horrible memories of Sasuke played through Narutos mind. That made Jaraiya almost vomit, of course he would never show it in front of the boy, but the idea that Sasukes memory was still that fresh in Narutos mind and knowing that the truth behind their newest mission might just break this child permanently was an idea that horrified him. Of course, though, he had to remind himself that this was the world of Shinobi, and each person who chose this path would eventually have to face moments like this; the loss of a comrade, the horror of being forced to kill another human being, and even some of the more unorthodox training methods could break a person. The many, many years of pain, loss, and hardships had taught him that much, if nothing else.<p>

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><p>Sasuke had been watching Orochimaru ever since he had arrived at the snakes hole, and when he had noticed the Sennins increasingly restlessness over the past few days, he began his nightly sittings in the trees just outside the tunnels single opening. His teachers new found sensitivity both interested and bothered Him; Orochimaru was not one to get scared easily, and something that scared him to this extent could only be the most real and dangerous of threats. There was only one person that Sasuke believed could possibly be worthy of that much fear, even in a sennin: Itachi. And any shot at him was an opportunity for Sasuke. And so, on the night that Orochimaru left without any kind of notice to him or anyone else, Sasuke followed him. It had been a day since then, and he had stopped a short distance from where the two were resting. Orochimaru sat, drinking a cup of tea, his assistant Kabuto sitting closely suddenly lifted the small cup away from his purple lips and spoke with his serpentine accent.<p>

"I know you're there, Sasuke. Why don't you come out and join me?" Sasuke knew that he would eventually be found out, and so he reluctantly abandoned his hiding spot among the branches and leaves, walked into the small encampment, and sat off to the side of Orochimaru, leaning up against a far tree, keeping sure to keep a safe distance from both the unpleasant snake-man and his fanatical subordinate. Kabuto offered him a cup of tea, which he initially declined but upon the encouragement of his master that it would replenish his chakra, he begrudgingly took the cup into his hands and sipped at it slightly. He did not believe that they would try and poison him, no, they still needed him alive and well, but he didn't put it past the men to try and lull him to sleep with some kind of herb and then take off whilst he slept. He was so deep in though, it wasn't until the Snake sennin interjected himself into his train of thought that he finally came back to reality. "We've all traveled quite a distance, especially you Sasuke, seeing as how you haven't had a proper night sleep in close to a week." Sasuke was only slightly shocked that his master had been aware of his nightly adventures; he was a sennin, after all. He continued "taking chakra exhaustion into account, I feel it best if we stop here for the night and allow all of our bodies to recover overnight, and start again in the morning. What do you think of the idea, Kabuto?" Said medic nodded his head in response.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama, I believe that is an excellent idea." He replied. Without waiting for Sasuke to fallow suit, the two laid down on the ground, and by secretly activating his sharingan, Sasuke could see their chakras dull slightly, the textbook indicator of slumber. Kabuto must have slipped a small something into his tea, because even he began to nod off. Inevitably he lost the battle with sleep and finally released his consciousness to the realm of dreams…and nightmares.

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><p>Hey! No, Im not dead! Haha srry for the very very VERY late release, but even though its SUMMER, I still gots shit to do, and I really wanted to make this perfect, but it just wasn't coming together for me for about a week and a half. Anyway, make sure to REVIEW! PWEASE? Oh and also, I've found this GREAT manga online, its called Reimei no Arcana! Not very well-known (Yet) but I really like it! You can find it at and search Reimei no Arcana! Read and pm me what you think of it! (Oh and ps, it's a FANTASY! Lol, but so is Naruto, come to think of it…) lol ANYWAYS I'm thinking of doing a FF about it, so definitely look out for that! Ok guys, I love you all and thank you for spending the time to read my story! Peace! ^_^<p> 


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